[Brigham Young Sermon] Br Brigham while standing by the fire was led to make some remarks, upon the Spirit that prevails & has the ascendancy in the camp levity; loud laughter, whooping & hallooing among the Elders, proceeds from an evil Spirit. See, says the President, all around us at this moment, what a Spirit of levity & it all arises from a neglect of duty, for three or four men who do not belong to the church are enabled to insinuate the Spirit that rules them through the whole camp & overpower the other one hundred & forty men. don't you think I am ashamed of it? when if ten men would be faithful before the Lord they might control all such Spirits, but those Negros want to dance, others join in with them & they all become Negros together, there is no harm [that] will arise from merriment or dancing if Brethren when they have indulged in it. Know when to stop, but the Devil takes advantage of it to lead the mind away from the Lord. They forget the object of this Journey & all feel well together but if we travel in this way five hundred miles further, it will lead to the shedding of Blood, & some will seek to destroy the Priesthood, it would be far better for three or four to go away together to pray than to engage in playing cards & thus forget the Lord. The men that compose this camp if they would do right might establish the Kingdom, and it would prosper from our hands, but if they do not do right there will [be] such a scattering as among the Elders as you have never seen'"we are the Pioneers for the whole church of God on the Earth seeking for a place to establish the Kingdom but we have not found it yet. -- Chimney Rock, Nebraska [Norton Jacob Diary, Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.. Also The Mormon Vanguard Brigade of 1847, Ronald Barney, ed. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2005. 150]
[source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009)]
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